Jack Manfred is an aspiring writer who to make ends meet, takes a job as a croupier. Jack remains an observer, knowing that everything in life is a gamble and that gamblers are born to lose. Inevitably, he gets sucked into the world of the casino which takes its toll on his relationships and the novel he is writing.

Billy has just scored an entry-level position with the local crime cartel. His first job is to mind Jason, a newly released thug with a vicious temper. Jason thinks it's his job to teach Billy about crime, drugs and women. Little does he know that Billy has his eyes on Jason's own wife, Lisa. When an ecstasy deal goes bad, Jason vows revenge on the boss, while Billy looks to take out Jason. Before long, bodies start turning up

When Heather and Sarah Ann were growing up they told each other every secret. But Heather left their small town on the last day of high school vowing never to return. Forced to come back when her father becomes ill, the young documentary filmmaker is pressured into filming Sarah Ann's wedding video. Heather is convinced that the edgy filmmaker and bubbly pink-wearing bride have nothing in common, but as the big day approaches she finds that no one is quite what they seem – especially the old friend she thought she knew better than anyone.

In her filthy cell in Newgate prison Moll Flanders, dubbed 'the wickedest woman in England' tells her story. Born in the gaol, after her mother is transported Moll is raised by the kindly mayor of Colchester and his wife, whose two sons lust after her. She enjoys sex with handsome Rowland, who teaches her that money talks, but, realizing he only wants her as a mistress, she marries his duller brother Robin, who conveniently dies after five years, leaving her wealthy. She goes to London, briefly meeting highwayman Jemmy Seagrove, and marries parvenu draper Daniel Dawkins, but he has huge debts and must flee to France, leaving Moll alone and poor. Moll meets handsome young American sea captain Lemuel Golightly, who marries her and takes her to Virginia and a good life style, along with his mother. They have two children and are blissfully happy until Moll discovers her mother-in-law is also her birth mother. She has married her own brother. She returns to England and poses as wealthy ...

Georgia Wells has broken off her previous life and is no longer the woman she was.After seeing her husband, who reportedly died on television, she will do everything to find out the truth about her past, including diving into Congo's lands.

Jimmy Nail is superb as a Geordie lathe operator cum song writer who tries for the big time. Pathos and dry humour (a Nail trademark) abound in a colourful and varied story which successfully mixes action, romance, mystery and music. The music, performed and mostly written by Nail, who also wrote the series, is excellent. It makes the story all the more believable - the soundtrack album really did make a singing star out of Jimmy Nail.

Hope Springs is a British television comedy-drama series following the lives of four female ex-cons in hiding following a multimillion pound robbery. Produced by Shed Productions, the company behind Bad Girls, Footballers' Wives and Waterloo Road, the 8-part series began airing on BBC One on 7 June 2009 and finished on 26 July 2009. After a single series, the BBC cancelled Hope Springs, because it "did not find its audience in the way that [they] had hoped."